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Friday, May 11, 2007

My trip to Switzerland, part 1

Where do I begin? Well, let's start with the basics. I was invited to go to Switzerland with Emmi, a Swiss dairy company that has been in Sweden for a little over a year. (Swedish site here.) I jumped at the opportunity - and I'm really glad I did. We visited the Kaltbach caves, where Emmi stores cheese in natural sandstone, a lovely little place in the Emmenthal valley where we got to make our own cheese, and the fondue production plant in Thun. So. Very. Cool. We weren't allowed to take photos at Kaltbach or Thun, but I have plenty from Emmenthal. (And I was promised a cd with press pictures from the other places - I'll share them with you later. For now, how about a few pictures of what I ate?

Airport food, but surprisingly good. Chicken with cashew nuts. Not so Swiss, I know.

Four types of cheese fondue! Decidedly more Swiss. And delicious!

A patisserie that I walked by on a morning walk - unfortunately closed. But look at those hedgehogs - so cute!

Dinner at the Kornhauskeller in Bern was a real experience! The room was as you can see gorgeous, and the food - great!

A salad to start the meal.

Grilled veal with asparagus...

...and a white wine risotto

Melon mint mousse with fresh berries - yum! I'd love to replicate this, it was such a clean and fresh way to finish.

Another starter salad, this time for lunch in the Emmenthal valley. Where the main course was raclette.

And a dessert for us all to share! This is called "marängswiss" in Swedish - obviously Meringue Swiss, but few ever think about that. Meringues, cream, ice cream and fruit - what a winner!

And I'm just a bit ashamed to admit this, but I have to come clean: I went to Starbucks. And I was so excited about it, too! It occurred to me the day before the trip, that maybe, just MAYBE, there would be a Starbucks in Bern. Imagine my excitement when there actually was, just three blocks from my hotel! So, I went for an early morning frappuccino. Yeay!

Puffles - I know, I know... I'm ashasmed of my Starbucks love - but it's probably very much the fact that there *is* no Starbucks here. And I adore the frappuccinos, which just no one else seems to make. At least not half as good. *sigh*

Emmi isn't so bad but their products are typically mass production and don't compare to the cheese you can buy anywhere in special dairy shops such as the Chäsbueb http://www.harmonie.ch/lieferanten/chaesbueb/default.htm in the old town of Berne.